Negima An alternate Magic World arc
by Dragonkey258
Summary: Desperate to stop Fate at the beginning of the Magic World Arc, Negi casts one of Evangeline's a forbidden spells. However, that spell seemed to have consequences...but something like this? FemNegix? Pairings undecided. Read and Review!
1. Prologue

Negima – An alternate Magic World Arc

Prologue

"Makie-san!? Yuna-san!? Akira-san!? What are you doing here!?" young Negi Springfield yelled out in shock as the aforementioned students showed up next to him and the members of the "Ala Alba".

"Er, hi sensei?" Makie said weakly, scratching the back of her head looking ashamed of herself.

"We just wanted to see where you guys were going," Yuna added.

'This is bad!' Asuna and other members of the Ala Alba thought.

Just as Negi was about to answer, he felt a spike of mana in the area, one that he knew and hated. The air around him was becoming hard to breathe as he felt the mana was coming closer and closer to him.

"DIE, NEGI SPRINGFIELD!" a voice cried out behind him. As the said teacher turned around, a spear of stone shot through his right shoulder, piercing his lung and shattering his right ribcage.

In front of him was the face of his fated enemy, Fate Averruncus.


	2. Chapter 1 The End of Fate

Chapter 1

_"DIE, NEGI SPRINGFIELD!" a voice cried out. As the said teacher turned around, a spear of stone shot through his right shoulder, piercing his lung and shattering his ribcage. _

The stone spear felt cold as it shot through his skin. Negi looked down at it in shock as it slowly slid out of his flesh, allowing his blood to pour out in crimson waterfalls from the wound. Then the pain took over him, as he collapsed in shock.

"NEGI!" Asuna yelled, running to him. Anya, Konoka, Setsuna, Kotaro and Kaede appeared right next to her, surrounding the two. Asuna took the dying boy in her arms, her eyes overflowing with tears.

"Asuna-dono! What's going on!?" Kaede yelled.

"How the hell should I know!?" Asuna yelled back. "This thing just-!"

"I believe the honor comes to me," a familiar voice said from behind them. "Besides, he should've paid more attention to his surroundings."

"YOU!" yelled the members of the Ala Alba, Asuna louder than the rest.

"Me," said Fate Averruncus, his eyes looking devoid from emotion like the first time they met.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Kotaro yelled, falling into a fighting stance.

"That is none of your concern mutt," Fate said, as three other cloaked figures appeared behind him.

Kotaro, Setsuna and Kaede charged in, all of caution thrown out the wind. The three seemed to have smirked, as they all separated and counter attacked. One of them caught Kaede in a shadow binding sphere, rendering her useless. Kotaro was taken out by the shorter one, caught in a binding spell that knocked him out. Finally, Setsuna was taken out by a combination of Fate and another cloaked figure.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE!?" Asuna screamed. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT WITH US!?

Negi was slowly fading out of consciousness.

He heard Asuna's scream. He heard Kotaro's yell.

Those screams echoed in his head. He wanted to help them.

But how? He was bleeding to death, barely breathing, and dying.

How could he worm his way out of this?

Then it hit him. He could use _that _spell.

However, that spell could kill him if he went over his limit.

Looking up, seeing Nodoka and Anya now being targeted, he realized he had no real choice in the matter.

With a tired heave, he hoisted himself up, and drawing runes with his blood, chanted, "_Saguer, toma forma…"_

All fighting stopped when they heard Negi yell out, "_Verga de, sword de la muerta!_"

They were all watched in morbid horror as all of Negi's spilt blood spiraled around him and took the form of a sword the size of Asuna's Exorcism blade. Fate watched in amazement as the sword crystallized and began to glow. Those eyes changed into shock and confusion as Negi smirked and stabbed himself through the chest.

"NEGI!?" Asuna, Konoka, Anya and Kotaro yelled in shock.

"What the hell?!" Kotaro yelled. "Has he lost it?!"

Just when Anya was about to scream out her obscenity, the sword glowed with a red light before dissolving into blood again. However, that blood floated over Negi's fallen form and took the shape of the child-teacher's body, taking all the blood from the body.

"Wh-wh-what happened to Negi-kun?!" Konoka screamed, border lining a panic attack.

Fate and his companions looked at the blood body of Negi with morbid fascination. The blood body smirked and licked its fangs, much like a certain vampire they knew. Then without warning, it lunged at Fate, its 'mouth' wide open.

Fate grimaced and summoned his stone spears, aiming them at the monstrosity. Sending them at it, his eyes widened in shock as the stone just pierced the body but had no effect! Falling back, he charged a petrification spell, only to halt it as the blood creature punched him hard in the chest followed by a blow to his face, drawing blood. As his expression changed to that of desperation the blood creature let a high pitched screech and plunged its fist-turned-claws into Fate's torso, and slowly pushed itself into the wound.

"What?" Fate asked out loud in shock, looking at his torso. "What did…?" Then he felt it.

That feeling of pain when all the blood gets sucked out of your body.

Screaming in pain, he gripped his head as the blood from his body was throbbing from the inside of his body. He felt as if someone had injected him with liquid napalm, but that wasn't even the worst of it. The pain on his arms maddened him further; it felt as if someone was using a hot blade to write something on his arms. Pulling sleeves back, his eyes widened in shock as he saw what was there.

There was a message there for him, courtesy of the blood monster that was Negi Springfield.

_"DIE WITH ME FATE AVERRUNCUS! I'LL BRING YOU TO HELL WITH ME!!"_

Fate's eyes widened one last time as his arms burst apart, one by one, followed by the rest of the body. The blood creature then reformed itself from all the blood, including that of the freshly killed Fate Averruncus.

"Fatey-kun!" cried out one of the cloaked figures, the one who had knocked out Kotaro. With energy glowing in her dual blades, she slashed at the monster, cutting it in two. The two halves then came back at her, throwing both their fists into her head, crushing it in a bloody pulp, revealing her to be Tsukuyomi, the psychotic swordswoman from Kansai. The blood creature smiled as it absorbed her blood as well.

Everyone in the general area of the beast froze as it slowly made its way to the fallen child teacher's body, where it slowly dissolved itself and poured back into the wound. They all watched as the wound closed itself, appearing as if nothing had happened in the first place.

But as the wound finally closed, the child teacher's body began to glow with a brilliant white light that blinded all within the general vicinity.

Well, everything was glowing with a white light…as the forced transport spell kicked in, a security measure that was added to the area just in case an attack like that this happened. As the members of the Ala Alba were just about to be transported, Chachamaru Kakaruki, the gynoid of the group, released a screaming Chisame Hasegawa for the sake of the teacher, a fact that would be taken against her in the near future.

But strangely enough…no one noticed the changes that Negi had undergone…


	3. Chapter 2 FEMALE NEGI? WTF?

Chapter 2

Negi Springfield found himself in the hall where they had arrived in the Magic World, a heavy mist over the area. Gripping his staff on his back, he cast a silent wind spell to dispel the mist to make things slightly visible.

What he saw in next made his blood freeze.

Right there, in front of him, was the bloody body of Fate Averruncus and the decapitated Tsukuyomi. The mist moved further away to show all the girls of the Ala Alba moving staring at him, fear and distress clearly in their eyes.

When he went to them, they just stepped back, unwilling to be near him. Nodoka had stepped back, not willing to meet his eyes. Asuna had summoned her artifact and Setsuna had drawn her blades and placed herself in between Konoka and him.

But it was the words that Konoka had muttered that hurt him the most.

_"Monster."_

Then everything shattered around him like a million shards of glass.

* * *

Chachamaru Kakaruki was in the river of the magical forest, bathing her artificial skin in the naturally warm waters. Her mind was thinking to the being that she had grabbed who she thought was Negi Springfield.

The gears in her began to spin rapidly, guilt overcoming her mind. She had grabbed a girl who had resembled Negi, Fate and Tsukuyomi all in one, and quite frankly, it disturbed her. Her elbow length hair was a slight shade of fuchsia with platinum blonde streaks. She was slightly taller than Negi, her head reaching the chin of Negi's older persona, Nagi. Then it didn't help that she was a bit more _developed _than Yue and Nodoka, nearly rivaling Asuna. As for her skin, it was an eerie pale, yet a creamy white color mixed together. The glasses were still on her eyes, but it was now too small for her face. By her estimation, her age ranged from 12 to 14.

What had scared her the most was the fact that it she was wearing Negi-sensei's clothing…

Now, as she sat in the warm waters, she contemplated what she could do with the girl. By all accounts, if she was an enemy, she could be held hostage, and due to initial power readings, it would be someone difficult to restrain her. But later scans would indicate that her magical signature was erratic, leading to rather poor control. It would really depend on what happened when the girl woke up.

A scream snapped her out of her reverie when as it echoed through the forest. Immediately jumping out of the water and slipping on her dress, she landed next to the girl, who was hyperventilating and border-lining a panic attack. She was mumbling things incoherently, though the gynoid could make out the words, "How is this possible? Why me? What happened to me?"

"Who are you?" Chachamaru asked the nearly crazed girl.

The girl looked up at the gynoid and immediately glomped her, crying on her chest. "Chachamaru-saaaaan!" the girl whined into her chest.

That cry awoke certain functions in her, those that belonged to a folder she had dubbed "caring mother" after downloading it previously from an American website. Deciding to go with it for the time being, she quietly hushed the girl while rubbing her back.

It took some time for the girl to calm down, but after some good 10 minutes, she relaxed in the robot girls arms. Again, the Chachamaru looked the girl and asked, "Who are you?"

The girl looked up at her and said, "Chachamaru-san, its me! Negi!"

That left Chachamaru, for the first time in her life, speechless.

The girl who called herself Negi sniffed again, and looked up at Chachamaru hopefully. The gynoids inner gears were starting to overheat as it started to commence a flurry of scans, voice recognition patterns tests, comparison tests, and many others. While the girl looked frankly alarmed at the steam coming out of the robot's ears, the tests came to a quick end.

In the end, the she had gathered was inconclusive, so the next course of action was to commence torture and interrogation…well, maybe the interrogation part and not so much the torture. (After all, she had yet to prove herself hostile.)

"What proof do you have that you are Negi Springfield and not a pathetic impersonator?" Chachamaru asked in a steely tone, pushing the girl down in a sitting position and

The tone seemed to hit the girl emotionally, but she steeled herself and answered, "I taught at Mahora Academy in Japan at the age of 10 starting at the class of 2-A, whom I saw through to become class 3-A. I helped a group known as the 'Baka Rangers' achieve a small degree of intellectual growth to help them climb up from the bottom of the class. I fought against the Dark Evangel, known as Evangeline A.K. McDowell, beating her with the spell, 'Storm of Jupiter.' I took the class 3-A to Kyoto and Nara to find clues about my missing father, but in clashed with the Kansai Magic Association and had to defend the life of Konoka Konoe, in which Evangeline-san saved my life from Fate Averruncus. From that point on, I became her apprentice and studied under her, eventually using her teaching to participate in the Mahora Budokai in the school festival and fighting against Chao Lingshen to prevent the future of being altered. From then on, I trained further with Evangeline to train myself for this trip…," at this point, her voice began to waver, as the tears began to build up. "Then, I remember getting attacked by Fate Averruncus, and I don't remember what happened after that."

Chachamaru sat there, taking in everything that the girl before her said. Apart from the end, she had completely reiterated the story of Negi-sensei, right to the beginning of his visit to Mahora to now. At this point, there was only a one percent chance of denying that this was Negi. And that would be the gender problem.

"So how did you end up the way they are now?" Chachamaru asked. "My scans tell me that you are indeed female, whereas Negi-sensei was male."

The girl blushed and looked down, seeing her body fully for the first time. Her chest and lack of a certain male organ drove her to the brinks of insanity again, her emotions starting to get out of hand again. "I don't know!" the girl screamed, holding her head again. "I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!"

When she looked as if she was about to have a panic attack, Chachamaru did the only thing she could think off.

She pulled on the girls cheeks, just like her master would do to her. The whining slowly subsided as the girl before her who claimed to be Negi Springfield whimpered and waved her arms about in protest. Finally letting go, the other girl pouted as she rubbed her sore cheeks.

"You have given me more than enough information to prove yourself," Chachamaru said, bending down and looking at the girl straight in the eye. "Judging by your mannerisms, your actions and your tone, I have sufficient evidence to believe that you are indeed Negi-sensei." When the girl's eyes lit up, she continued, "However, I cannot seem to grasp the concept of you changing into a female, regardless of any circumstances."

"I told I don't…wait!" the newly dubbed female Negi said, her eyes widening. "I think it had something to do with that last spell I used before I blacked out!"

Chachamaru stood quiet as her mechanical brain booted up the video from the past 24 hours, recalling the fight. Then it came to her, that blood technique that was similar to one of her mistress' technique. The spell was very complex, and she didn't really know the particular nuances of the spell, and in the end, she didn't know much. She would have to download a magical compendium from this world later on and crosscheck it with the footage she has in her memory.

"I do not know of the spell you used," the gynoid said, making the other girl frown. "I have to download another compendium to find out what spell that was, and if possible, reverse the effects."

The female Negi drooped her shoulders and pouted. "So what now?" she asked. "Should we go and look others?"

"Yes," Chachamaru said, picking up her suit case (which she somehow had with her the entire time). "Let us go."


	4. Chapter 3 New Powers

Chapter 3

The transformed teacher and robot student set off in the direction of one of the badges, as each badge sent out a distress signal just in case the group was ever separated. The signals could be caught by Chachamaru's antennae, and thus be pinpointed with perfect accuracy.

As the two traveled for several days, the robot noticed the other girl's growing weariness as they went on long trips. After every five hours of nonstop high speed travel, Negi would call for a break, claiming that her body was aching all over. Due to these breaks, they would lose time and the signal would become weaker by the day, indicating that their target was moving away from them.

After a week, Chachamaru and Negi stopped by an open beach area to rest, their travels down for the day. Just as Negi was about to take a rest and comment on the beauty of the area, a giant creature landed before them. It was about as tall as a monster truck, was on four legs, had black fur, long leathery grey wings, two sets of horns, and a muzzle full of razor sharp teeth.

"A Dark Fiend Dragon!?" Negi cried out, jumping to her feet. As the dragon lunged at them, Negi gathered whatever magic she could cull from her weak form and chanted, "_Rastel Maskil Magister! Magic Archer, Array of Lightning! Shoot forth, 100 arrows!" _ At her beck and call, one hundred small white orbs slowly took form around her, but some fizzled out before they shot out. Those that did were severely weakened, as they were simply waved away by the dragon's wing.

In retaliation, the demonic dragon roared and unleashed its own torrent of lightning. Barely enough time to make a shield, Negi rose her arms in desperation, creating a flimsy barrier of wind that did nothing but kick up sand. Thus the lightning struck her direct damage.

As Negi screamed while the lightning struck her, Chachamaru sprung into action, her two hands turning into scimitars that blazed with energy. "Back, foul beast!" the gynoid yelled, swinging her arms. The blows barely missed, nicking one of the horns. From there, she continued her assault, creating more cuts and nicks on the horns and the flesh.

Feeling her second wind come back to her, Negi slowly got up and incanted another spell. The words slowly rolled off her tongue, but they were different from the ones she normally did. "_Vish Taru Ri Shtaru Vangate. The Stone Pillars within the Palace of death, hiding within the womb of Mother Earth, rises up to greet the Great Kings. Come to me, Pillars of Hades!"_ Acting on instinct, she raised her left arm and five pillars of obsidian took form over her head. Her eyes narrowing as if she was in a trance, she brought her arm down, making the pillars fall down.

Chachamaru, noticing the magical signatures, turned around, and upon seeing the raining pillars, jumped out of the way, letting the pillars strike the dragon. But Negi wasn't even done, if the facsimile smile of Tsukuyomi on her face was any indication. Crossing her arms and extending them, katana appeared in her right hand left hands, seemingly made out of the same obsidian material. Without any changes from her position, she flickered and reappeared in between the dragon's horns. Her eyes still out of focus but her face still in that maniacal grin, her arms lashed out, slicing through the horns like a hot knife through butter.

As the dragon roared and shook its head to get her off, Negi jumped up and lifted her swords to her shoulder level, the blades pointing down. As Chachamaru slashed forward to take the dragon's attention again, the gynoid noticed that the female Negi's corneas were becoming black while the iris was becoming a feral yellow, again much like Tsukuyomi and sometime's Setsuna. Just as the dragon was about to stomp on the robot, Negi appeared in front of its maw and slashed with both swords, making it roar in pain.

As the dragon backed up, now afraid of the child teacher, Negi rushed underneath the dragon's legs, rose both swords, and jumped up, slashing through the beast's guts in a brutal fashion.

The end result: Dragon guts sprayed all over the pristine beach and a very bloody gynoid and female child teacher.

Then as if she woke up, Negi snapped back to consciousness. Looking around, she saw all the blood and entrails all around her, the blood on Chachamaru, and then the blood on herself. Dropping both swords, she collapsed on her knees, her eyes widening in shock.

Chachamaru, to her credit, disengaged her weaponry and walked over to the girl, who was now sobbing. When she came to her, Negi went into her arms and continued to cry.


	5. Chapter 4 Chiuchan is found!

Chapter 4

"God dammit!" Chisame Hasegawa cried out, running for her life as a giant crab like monster came after her. This was nothing compared to the other crap she had to deal with for the past week, as she took her hatred out on the memories of her teacher (who had sworn to protect her) and the damn robot (who had dropped her just for the sake of the brat).

How long had she been at this? Days? Weeks? Months?

With her cell and laptop out of commission, she couldn't tell at this point.

Taking refuge into a small cavern that had a small lakebed, she brought up her cloak around her. It wasn't the creatures that freaked her out, it was isolation (well, the creatures just a little bit). For some strange reason she couldn't activate her artifact to talk to the sprites, despite the fact that the card was still there.

Gripping her fist so hard that it drew blood, she cried out, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MY LIFE!"

Big mistake.

From the waters came a large octopus like creature, its arms extending wildly and flailing randomly. Turning around, Chisame nearly screamed as the giant creature tried to grab her. Scrambling to reach higher ground, which seemed to be the only rational thing at the moment to, she tripped and fell down into the water, right where the beast was.

Then the tentacles grabbed her arms and legs, pulling her out. She felt a slimy liquid pouring out of the pours as it slowly went over her clothes, melting them away.

"WHAT KIND OF PERVERTED FINAL FANTASY CRAP IS THIS!!!!????" Chisame yelled as she felt the tentacles slowly go her nether region. As she was about to scream, a hooded figure jumped in the cave and kicked the creature on the head, stunning it. Then a second with two bladed arms followed and sliced at the tentacles, making the creature drop its victim. Her fall was broken by a girl who looked like that Fate guy, the brat she called a teacher, and the girl who Asuna and Setsuna had described as a pervert all in one.

However, she wore the brat's glasses…

Unceremoniously dropping Chisame, the girl rushed forward to help the second cloaked figure, her left hand glowing with a familiar spark of lightning that she knew that Negi could do. As the lightning began to crackle in her hands, she extended her hands where her fingers were out flat. The energy emerged from her fingers and took the shape of a sword, which she then used to slice away at more of the offending tentacles.

As Chachamaru somehow landed next to her, her two arms turning into energy cannons as if to provide backup, the mysterious girl leapt up and threw her mana sword at the creature, calling out, "_Hiraishin!" _The sword turned into a slim spear that burrowed itself in the creatures flesh, making it roar in pain. Just as the creature lunged at Chachamaru and naked Chisame in an all out attack, the gynoid opened fire, releasing hundreds of magical rounds in the creatures eyes.

When the hail of bullets stopped as her guns had nearly over heated, the creature was long since dead.

"Overkill much?" Chisame asked nervously.

At her words, the gynoid's guns turned back into her hands, and the mysterious girl stood still, not facing them.

"What the hell took you so long!?" Chisame yelled at the gynoid. "And who the hell is this girl!?"

"Chisame-san," the gynoid said calmly, "before I answer your questions, I must ask that you calm down."

"Calm down?!" Chisame yelled. "CALM DOWN!? DON'T YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN DAMMIT! I WAS STUCK IN A GODDAMN FOREST FOR WEEKS, NEARLY EATEN SEVERAL TIMES BY SOME CRAZY ASS CREATURES, HAVEN'T EATEN ANYTHING BUT CALORIE MATE AND NOW WAS NEARLY RAPED BY THIS TENTACLE THING! HOW THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BE CALM AFTER THIS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

As Chachamaru was about to answer, the introverted girl continued to rant, "AND ITS BAD ENOUGH THAT THE BRAT BROKE HIS PROMISE TO PROTECT ALL OF US!! FOR ALL I KNOW, HE DIED AFTER THAT FATE GUY DID THAT FREAKY STONE TRICK OF HIS!! AND EVEN IF HE WAS STILL ALIVE, I'D KICK HIS ASS TO NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!"

"Chisame-san!" Chachamaru said firmly, ending her rant. When the said girl looked at her, she followed the gynoid's pointing finger to the girl who she had nearly forgotten about. From the looks of it, she was trembling, almost as if she was crying or something.

"What?" Chisame asked, yanking the gynoid's cloak and wrapping it around her nude frame (it took her this long to notice she was naked? She must've been really pissed.).

"That is Negi-sensei," the robot told her.

Chisame did a double take, looking at the girl, whose back was still to her, and then back at Chachamaru, who nodded. Blinking several times, she slowly walked up to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder and asked in an uncertain voice, "Sensei?"

The girl turned around, and despite the changes, Chisame could still see the child-teacher's face in the girl before her. The said girl wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble, Chiu-san."

That broke the tension.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU!?!?!?!?"

* * *

A/N:

So yeah, Negi cries alot in this story don't you think? I'm kinda kicking myself at this, but I'm trying to base this of the fact that Negi was just ten (and a guy), who was suddenly transformed into a girl. I think that would render just about anyone's psyche vulnerable, right? (Not to mention, he has to rethink all of his/her relationships with the girls...)

I've gotten several PM's asking me why Negi was using Fate's activation key and why s/he has Tsukuyomi's mastery with blades. The answer to that will come in later chapters as they research the spell that Negi used. (If anyone cares to translate it, go ahead, but it probably won't give you any clues).

Now, here is a cliche thing that (I think) shows up in just about every Negima fic: Polls. I want to here your opinion on who Negi (the female, which I am keeping this way) should be with and why. And I don't mean to restrict to yuri relationships, it can also be friendship. (Heck, if you guys put Kotaro on the list with a valid reason, I'll consider it).

And if anyone want's to write an omake for this story/or gives me an idea for an omake for this story, I'll be glad to accept/write them.

Unitl next time, Dragonkey258 and the two muses.

P.S. Does anyone want to do the challenges?

P.P.S. I looked it up, and the term 'Hiraishin' actually means 'lightning rod', not 'Flying Thunder God'. So don't flame me for stealing Naruto moves.


	6. Chapter 5: Faux Explanations

Chapter 5

"So lemme get this straight," Chisame said, having changed Chachamaru's cloak turned into a makeshift dress (seeing as her original clothing was eaten…or at least she thought was eaten). "Negi-sensei did some weird spell that kills this Fate and Tsukuyomi people, but turns into a girl as a result?"

"Yes, that is the basic gist of it," Chachamaru said, nodding.

It suddenly became so silent that even the cricket chirping was loud.

"WHAT THE HELL KINDA EXCUSE IS THAT!!!??" Chisame yelled.

"But it's true," the female Negi whispered, looking down at her feet.

"I call bullshit," Chisame said, wrapping her makeshift dress tighter around her body. "That's just what it is! Complete and utter bullshit! First off, this chick here looks like that insane samurai girl from that barrier place. Secondly, how the hell can you be so sure that Negi-sensei just decided for a sex change then and there!? Finally, THIS WORLD IS WAY TOO FUCKED UP FOR ME!!! FIRST I'M STRANDED IN SOME DAMN FOREST, THEN NEARLY RAPED BY SOME FREAKY TENTACLE MONSTER, AND NOW MY TEACHER IS MISSING WITH THIS BITCH COMING OUT OF NOWHERE AND CLAIMING THAT _SHE'S _TEACHER! NOW TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!"

"You know, we could very much leave you here," the gynoid said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "WE have told you the whole truth, but you insist on denying it. We have no real use for you as it is; you cannot invoke your artifact, you have no magic or martial art skills, and your travel pace is generally slow."

"So your just gonna leave me here!?" Chisame yelled.

"Yes, we will," Chachamaru said coldly.

Staring at them, Chisame felt the coldness of her time in Mahora. How she was looked down on because she was a computer nerd. How she was pushed away because she loved to cosplay.

The ice that had slowly thawed in her heart from spending time with the whole Ala Alba group was slowly re-growing. It was paining her, and she didn't like the feeling.

"Fine," Chisame said, her head bowed. "I'm sorry."

The girl who was supposed to be Negi just smiled at her and went up to her, holding her hand. "It's okay Chisame-san. This is kind of a shock for me too."

The cosplay idol said nothing, but stared into the other girls face. Now that she looked hard enough, the girl looked almost like Negi, in terms of the shape of her face, her eye color, her complexion and her glasses. The face that the he had become a she was still unnerving, but it there was enough physical evidence to show that he had become a she.

"So, what now?" Chisame asked.

"Now we're going to look for the rest of the Ala Alba," Chachamaru said.

"How are we gonna get around the forest?" Chisame asked.

"As we've done already," the gynoid said, her jets flaring. "We'll just jump."

Just as they were about to get ready to go, Negi suddenly collapsed, holding her mid-section. Chisame was the first to notice, and ran over to her, closely followed by the gynoid.

"Whoa! Sensei!?" the cosplayer yelled. "What's wrong!?"

"I…I don't know," Negi moaned, resting her head on Chisame's shoulder. "I feel as if I'm burning up but freezing at the same time! Not to mention that I feel all fat and bloated, and my stomach's constantly churning."

Chisame and Chachamaru froze. They immediately knew what she was going through, and because of this incident, it seemed like Negi-sensei going back to normal was out of the question at this point.

* * *

Yes, filler chapter I know...anyone who doesn't know what's happening to Negi...well...I have no words to say to you.


	7. Chapter 6: KOTARO! WHAT'RE YOU DOING!

Chapter 6

"Guh," Negi groaned, lying down, resting her head on Chisame's lap. After that impromptu explanation of what was happening to her, she was more or less forced to stop traveling until her ailment passed. "Why is this happening to me?"

Chisame couldn't say anything. It was hard for her to explain her biology (as she did flunk the class), and but when it came to Sex Ed, she couldn't really answer them, as it was too damn embarrassing for her. Where was the damn robot when you need her?

Said robot was actually very jittery while she was gathering food and firewood. She knew she should have gone over the biology of the female body when she was teaching Negi about the workings of the female body. So here she was, nearly overheating due to stress.

"Whoa, nee-chan," a voice said from behind her. "Ya gotta loosen up a bit or ya may end up over-heatin'."

Chachamaru turned around and nearly dropped everything that she was holding.

"You…!"

Back to Chisame and Negi…

"Why can't I ever seem to do anything right!?" cried the emotional and quite hormonal Negi while she turned on Chisame's lap. "First Fate, then I lose everyone and now this! What was all our training for!? Was it just to waste of time!?" She continued to rant as her tears fell on Chisame's already damp skirt.

The owner of said skirt was really starting to hate the gynoid (again) for leaving her here in this predicament. Why the hell was she suppose to comfort this girl!? She knew nothing of comforting others (more likely because she rarely cared for other people).

"Hey, uh, relax?" Chisame tried piteously. "I mean, seriously, you're blowing things outta proportion here."

"What do you mean out of proportion!?" Negi yelled, getting up and facing her. "If anything, I haven't done enough justice to it!" From there she continued her rant for a good ten minutes or so, clutching at the cosplayer's skirt every now and then when she felt as if she was in pain.

"What the hell…?" they both heard a familiar voice say from behind them. Before Chisame could even turn around, Kotaro Inugami appeared and kicked the female Negi off her and into the water. He was looking better than the lot of them, somehow having gotten a brand new set of clothes. He tore off his beige cloak to reveal a dark blue tunic that had iron joints on his shoulders and elbows. Black pants that had the same iron joints on his knees covered up iron toe boots that now had Negi's spittle over it.

And he was looking quite pissed.

"Tsukuyomi," he growled, walking onto the water. "You've gotta lot of nerve showing your ugly face here."

Negi looked up got back up, holding her bruised face and not really knowing what was going on here. She jumped back to dodge another claw strike that would've killed her had it landed.

"It's bad enough that I got separated with my friends after you idiots showed up at the gate," Kotaro continued, chasing after Negi. "But no, now ya gotta show up and make buddy-buddy with them! First you try to kill us now you wanna be friends? Get real bitch!" Disappearing and reappearing behind her, he slammed his fist into the base of her spine, nearly shattering the bone had it not been for a barrier.

"Wait, Kotaro-kun!" Negi said, staggering from the pain.

"Shut up! I'll kill you!" Kotaro roared.

"Kotaro, stop!" Chisame yelled, now wishing that the damn robot would show up and explain. "You've got it all wrong!"

"Can it nee-chan! I know what I'm doin'!" Kotaro said, charging his left fist with ki. "I'll break that love spell after I deal with her!"

Chisame blushed at that, feeling slightly disturbed and revolted. Now thoroughly pissed, she yelled, "You fucking idiot! That is Negi! And you, brat! Fight back!"

"What!?" both Negi and Kotaro yelled.

"How the hell is this bitch Negi!?" Kotaro yelled. "Negi's a guy!"

"How am I suppose to fight him?!" Negi yelled. "He's our friend!"

"Oi!' Kotaro yelled. "I ain't your friend bitch! Her's maybe, but definitely not yours! Get that through your damn skull before I crush it!"

Negi looked slightly hurt at that, narrowly avoiding another punch to her head. As Kotaro roared in frustration and threw punches at an even faster tempo, she finally realized that he was serious in killing her. With a sigh, she spun to avoid one of his left hooks and slammed both of her fists into his back.

"About time you got your fight on!" Kotaro yelled, grinning savagely as he got back up from the water. "But I'm far from done! Wolf Style; Howling Wolf Claws!" His fists glowed with a purplish light as the sound of howling rang in the air. With a grunt, his hands transformed into claws, and three blades came out from between his knuckles, all of it glowing with an ominous purple light.

"Now you're dead!" He rushed in, swinging with reckless abandon. Negi ducked and weaved, some actually coming close to becoming a fatal hit.

Unwilling to keep his anger in check any longer, Kotaro put made a hand sign and called out, "Shadow Split!" Seven more Kotaros appeared and they ran into position while the original kept fighting. When they were all there, the original Kotaro jumped back, and all eight of them rushed forward, cutting Negi with their claws in different parts of the body, drawing large amounts of blood. As she cried out in pain, the other seven Kotaro clones and the claws dispelled, the original apparently wiped out with that last move.

"NEGI-SENSEI!" Chisame yelled, just about ready to rush in there and get the girl out.

"How bad did you bang your head?" Kotaro asked, looking at her oddly as he made his way to her.

A flash of purple aura stopped him in his tracks. He turned around slowly to see the girl he had just sliced open standing upright, her head and shoulders slumped over. She slowly raised her head up, revealing the black corneas and white pupils that was evident to a practitioner of Shinmei-ryu swordsmanship (except Setsuna for some reason). She held out both hands, where two obsidian katana appeared, one shorter than the other. As if to finish the ensemble, she had a maniacal grin on her face, just like Tsukuyomi.

Focusing her eyes on Kotaro, her form flickered and reappeared right behind Kotaro, where she kicked him hard in the back. From there she jumped up and flipped back down, directing her heel into the dog hanyou's back again, this time driving him underwater. When he came back up for air, he went back down quickly to avoid being beheaded. From his underwater position, he grabbed her legs and used her legs to hoist himself up while at the same time bringing her down.

Kotaro jumped back a few feet to avoid any underwater surprises, breathing heavy. The battle was beginning to take its toll on him. Going for broke, he charged up his remaining chi into his arms calling upon his claws again. A glint in the water below him made him jump back, only have his left eye sliced by a black sword.

'That light was just a decoy!' Kotaro thought frantically as the girl he thought was Tsukuyomi stood before him.

"What's the matter, Kotaro-kun?" she said, her eyes still glowing and her face still in that warped grin. "What happened to that strength of yours? Weren't you going to defeat this bitch who was making buddy-buddy with your friends?"

"Can it!" Kotaro yelled, rushing forward. Negi did the same, raising her blades. They were about to clash until…

…until Chachamaru appeared, punching both of them in the back of the head, knocking them both out. Picking them both up gently (Negi more so than Kotaro), she walked to shore and gently placed them on the sand.

"Well that was pretty anti-climactic," Chisame muttered to herself. Turning to Chachamaru, she yelled at the top of her lungs, "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!?"

"Leading us here," a voice said from behind her. Chisame turned around to see a band of cloaked figures and a floating cart. The one in front removed his hood revealing a face that looked like Kotaro but a lot older. "The names Ryu; I'm Kotaro's older brother."

* * *

Look, I know my fight scenes aren't really the greatest, but give me some form of credit...and a review of how I could improve would be nice as well.


	8. Chapter 7: Kotaro has a family?

Chapter 7

"Sorry about the mess," Ryu Inugami said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. They were currently at an encampment that he and his servants has set up several hundred miles ahead of where Chisame and Negi originally were, and where Negi and Kotaro fought it out.

"Its okay, I think," Chisame said, glad that she was in some kind of normal clothing. By 'normal', it was a dark magenta colored shawl over a dark green tank top and shorts.

"So, if I may ask, what exactly were you three doing in the forest during this time of year?" Ryu asked in a casual tone.

"Er, we got separated from our travel companions," Chisame said, coming up with the lie on the spot. "We just got off the transporter thingy between the worlds when it suddenly blew up and shot us all around the world."

"Really?" Ryu asked, his eyes going up. "Then you guys must be extremely lucky. When the teleporter went boom, everyone else working there died in the blast." He paused for a bit to let the information sink in. "Anyways," he continued, changing the topic. "Why is my little brother calling you and that robot chick 'nee-chan' and the other girl as 'that traitorous bitch'?"

"Uh, well, you see, its kinda complicated," Chisame stuttered.

"Really? How so?" Ryu asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Chisame was just about to come up with a gratuitous amount of bull shit on the spot, but was saved when Kotaro burst into the room, his torso and arms wrapped in bandages, yelling, "OI! Nii-san! What the hell were you doing!? I almost had her!"

"'Almost had her'?" Ryo asked his younger brother. "It looked otherwise from my point of view."

"Whatever!" Kotaro snapped. "Still, where is she?! I'll finish her off now!"

"So you'd attack an unconscious opponent?" Ryo asked, his eyes narrowing in disgust.

"You'd do it to if you knew what the hell she did!" Kotaro yelled back.

"What did she do to you?" Chisame asked, clearly confused.

"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!" Kotaro snapped, only to be slapped by his brother.

"I don't think she did anything to merit that behavior little brother," Ryo said, glaring at his younger sibling. "Now answer the question."

Looking up at him, contempt clearly in his eyes, he looked down and mumbled something incoherent. When nearly punched by his brother and threatened, he said, "She cheated on me, alright! She was my first girlfriend before I found out she was a lesbian and slept with another girl! There, I said it! HAPPY NOW!?"

Chisame was clearly stupefied at the latest revelation.

Ryo, on the other hand, just burst out laughing.

"Are you serious!?" Ryo asked between his laughs. "You hate her just cause she was a lesbian?! Idiot little brother." He wiped his eyes of his tears and wrapped his arms around his younger sibling, a scene that Chisame just walked out on. She did not want to see a heart to heart moment right now, thank you very much!

---------*----------*---------

Negi woke up, her head throbbing as if it was repeatedly used as a drum in a rock band, and the drummer was really drunk off their ass. With a groan, she looked around to find herself in a lavish tent of sorts, where she was on a feather down bed with a light wool blanket covering her body. Her clothes were changed from her old travel clothes to a night gown that had the design of a wolf across the lower half.

Spotting a mirror on a nearby dresser, she walked over so that she could get a proper look at herself. With a deep breath, she put on her glasses (her old wire set was scrapped during the fight with Kotaro and replaced by a larger set that almost resembled Chisame's except that it was a bit smaller) and opened her eyes.

What she saw nearly made her faint on the spot.

Almost bearing the same guise as Tsukuyomi, she was a bit shorter than the psychotic swordswoman and had a tanner complexion. Her eyes, before a dark maroon-ish sort of color, had become a deep green with tads of brown in it. Her hair, once short brown with a dark ponytail that stretched to his shoulders had become a slight shade of fuchsia with platinum blonde streaks. She was slightly taller than her old self, head reaching the chin of her former older persona, Nagi.

Then when she continued to look downwards, she blushed at the two mounds of flesh that were on her chest pushing against the cloth of the night gown. Taking a deep breath, she looked down and nearly fainted on the spot; her, ehem, _breasts_, were just about the same size as Asuna's (she would know; after all, in the past she would sneak into his bed and snuggle close to her chest)!

"Oh, you're awake?" a voice said from behind her. Turning around, Negi found a girl, a few girls older than her. She was wearing a maid's garb, one looking like a traditional Japanese maids outfit. She had dark blue eyes, a caring face that was a bit canine-like, and a head of long brown hair with dog ears sticking our from the top. She had a handful of clothing in one arm, and a tray of food in the other.

"Good morning, ojou-sama", the maid said, "I am Dreisa, your maid."

Recognizing the Japanese, Negi gave her a quick bow, which the maid returned, and replied, "Arigato Dreisa-san."

Dreisa smiled and walked up to her, speaking in English, "The honor is all mine, ojou-sama. Ryo-dono has asked me to be with you for the day, as you have exhibited signs of illness. Tell me, are you well?"

"I'm fine," Negi replied quickly.

With another soft smile, Dreisa laid down the clothes and food on the bed and dresser respectively. "As you wish ojou-sama. Will you need help dressing?"

Taking a look at the clothing, Negi sighed and said, "I think so."

-------------*------------*-------------

Chachamaru was walking through the camp, making a map of the area. She had to admit, the encampment nearly resembled a war camp, with watch towers placed in strategic locations and guards in every entrance. The tents were all different sizes, some being as large as her mistress's home while others the size of the dorms in Mahora. It was quite interesting to see that everyone knew each other; Ryo wasn't kidding when they said the whole camp was a family.

Sighing, she walked back to sensei's tent to check up on the gender swapped child. What she heard nearly stopped her cold. She could tell one voice, clearly nervous was Negi's, but the other was unknown.

"Are you sure that should go in there?"

"Relax dear. I know what I'm doing."

"AH! Hey! Take it easy with that thing!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll take it slow this time."

"Thank you…ah, that feels so much better."

"Doesn't it? Now, lets try for the second one."

"Hey, wait, what! Now!?"

"Of course now. This has to be done you know."

"Oh-okay…"

Chachamaru had enough. Barely holding in the steam, she grabbed the cloth that was the door and literally ripped it open. Then she felt like an idiot the minute she saw what was going on.

"Ah, Chachamaru-san!" Negi squeaked, blushing a bit as she and a maid tried to cover herself and get her other arm in the second sleeve of a female's kimono (which is strange, since a male's and a female's are almost the same) at the same time. The maid was assisting her, holding her arm gently as she was trying to get the other girl's arm through the sleeve.

"Forgive me for my intrusion," the gynoid said before turning around as Chisame had done at the festival when she had caught the male Negi and herself doing the same thing.

---------------*-------------*---------------

"What was that all about?" Negi asked, confused but still blushing from Chachamaru's intrusion.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Driesa said, hiding a grin.


	9. Chapter 8: What happened to Yue?

Chapter 8

It had been month since the Ala Alba crew got separated from each other after that fiasco at the gate port. Chisame was on the edge of the camp, looking out onto the desert. Her mind was a flurry of thoughts, all of them bouncing off of each other.

Like, for instance, how Kotaro had a family, when the said inugami half breed clearly stated that he was an orphan who lived on his own. Yet here they were, in a holding that was run by a man that claimed that he was Kotaro's older brother, whom Kotaro had acknowledged as such.

Then there was the fact that the whole Ala Alba group was separated. That in itself was bad! She counted off those who she ranked as the weakest (next to her, but hey, she had protection!), starting with Miyazaki, Ayase, that mystery bunch that came in with them, Asakura, that ghost Sayo ("If she's dead, does she really need protection?"),and Konoe (if she got separated from Setsuna of course).

As if it that wasn't bad enough, how the hell was she going to explain how their darling Negi-_kun _became Negi-_chan_.

* * *

"Yue-chan! Wait up!"

Yue Hearthnet, adopted daughter to the Hearthnet family, looked up from her book, only to find a dagger flying towards her face. Reacting on pure instinct, she whipped out two ornate pistols from their respective leg holsters, using one to whack the intruding projectile and the other to fire off a bullet at the one who threw it. A flurry of bullets erupted from her guns, some blazing red and others icy blue.

"HEY! THAT'S NOT FAIR!" the attacker cried, whipping out two tonfa from her back. Spinning in a rapid motion, she slashed the two bullets into pieces, only to find her opponent come rushing at her, guns at the ready.

A loud bang echoed, followed by the screeching sound of metal and a explosion of a smoke bomb.

The smoke cleared, and there was Yue, holding her guns at the head of her attacker, who in turn had a dagger at her throat.

"You're getting better Yue-chan," the attacker said, smiling.

"You know, I'd prefer if you stopped randomly attacking me," Yue said in her monotone voice, holding her gun steady.

"But where's the fun in that Yue-chan?" the girl under her said with a grin. She tried to raise her hands to move a strand of green hair from her eyes, but Yue's other gun instantly followed it. With a perverted smirk, the girl on the ground said, "Now are you gonna get off'a me or am I gonna have to accuse you of liking this position?"

"That's not working on me again," Yue said, her eyes not leaving the other girls face.

"Dammit!" the girl cursed, pouting. "Ahright, I give. So know will ya let me up?"

Yue said nothing, but got up, and twirled her guns before putting them back into their holster. She offered the girl below her a hand, who took it without trying to pull her down.

"You're getting better Yue-chan," the girl said, immediately glomping the said girl the minute she got to her feet. She was a bit taller than Yue, about by a foot or so, and her fox ears, once hidden by her hair, now sprouted upwards as she nuzzled the smaller girl.

"Minna," Yue said, her voice rising in pitch to that of a whine.

"What?" Minna asked. "Can't a girl hug her sister?"

"Aren't I adopted though?" Yue asked, blushing as she felt Minna's chest push on her neck.

"So?" Minna asked. "Blood means nothing to the family, remember? It's the heart that counts."

Minna smiled as Yue stopped squirming and relax in her arm. Her mind began to wander to when she first met Yue…and it wasn't pretty to say in the least.

----------*Flashback*----------

"Crappy crappity crapping crapper crap!!!!" Minna yelled as she chased after target, a wanted criminal whose head was worth a whopping 30 million drachma, if he were brought in alive. He was a fast little bastard, being able to duck and weave through the back roads and narrow alleys of the city. However, he was injured, courtesy of one of her knives, on his left heel, so that cut his speed a bit.

But that little wound apparently didn't mean much. He was still a fast little bugger.

"Get back here ya ratty bastard!" she yelled.

"You'll never take me alive!" the beast man yelled, jumping over another set of crates.

Out of aggravation, she sheathed her tonfa and pulled out her throwing knives, holding three in between her fingers. With a flick of the wrist, she sent them flying at curved angles. She smiled when she heard them penetrate the flesh of her target, and his anguished scream of pain.

"Had enough?" Minna asked, bringing out her tonfa again.

Just as the beast man was about to yell out a snappy retort, a magic circle appeared in between them, bathing the whole area in an insanely bright white light. From the magic circle popped out a young girl in a white travelers cloak and backpack. She was a bit on the short and under-developed side, but the one thing that really made her stand out was her incredibly long blue hair.

Before Minna or the strange blue haired girl could even react, the beast man grabbed the newcomer by the throat and shoved her in front of him, extending his claws so that pierced her throat ever so slightly to show blood.

'_Shit! I got someone else involved!'_ "Put the girl down Gibbs!" Minna yelled, going into a fighting stance. "She's got nothing to do with this!"

"Do you honestly think I'm stupid!?" the newly dubbed Gibbs yelled, squeezing the throat of the girl even harder, making her gasp in pain and for air. "Now you listen here bitch! You put weapons down on the floor, right where I can see'em! And I mean all of them!"

Minna narrowed her eyes as she stood there, watching the girl go slightly blue from the lack of air. With a sigh, she put her tonfa and all of her knives on the ground in between them. "There, I did what you asked," she said, her eyes never leaving the girl. "Now let her go!"

"Why should I?" the beast man said, his eyes getting more and more maniacal by the second. "You know what; maybe I'll use her as my little toy instead! Heh, she'll probably be tight as hell!"

Unknowingly to him, he just signed his death warrant then and there. As a general note, one should never boast about raping a girl right in front of another, especially when the other can kill you with no difficulty.

"I gave you a chance!" Minna yelled, rushing into action. "NOW DIE!" Just as Gibbs was about to lash out, Minna ducked under his extended arm, with one of her knives in hand. When Gibbs looked like he was about to take off with the girl, she lashed out, throwing the knife right at his skull. The sharpened metal connected with Gibbs' cranium, piercing through the bone and turning the brain into mush.

The grip on the blue haired girl's neck slacked a little bit, letting life giving air flow into her lungs. Unfortunately, the blood flow that was also restricted due to Gibbs' grip kicked back in high gear, all of it flowing into her brain all at once. Her eyes became blood shot, and she collapsed right before Minna, unmoving.

"Crap," Minna grumbled under her breath. Hoisting the smaller girl tenderly, not wanting to cause any more injury, her form flickered and disappeared, leaving a dead body of a wanted criminal in the alley.

* * *

Percival Hearthnet, an exiled beast man scientist from the Ostian government Science and Research Division, sighed as waited for his charge to return. He was about seven feet tall, wearing a set of white lab robes that covered his body. His face was bit on the lion side; golden fur on his face, giving him a feral like appearance. He pulled his glasses away from his dark red eyes and rubbed away the gunk that had built up during his all-nighter. It was just too hard to fall asleep knowing that one of your own is out there risking their lives to rake in money for the family.

Then again, he too had brought home money for his family at one point, and was thus reduced to being an owner of a run-down underground hospital and bounty hunting business.

The mere thought of that made his blood boil. He was a once a scientist working with Ostia, but those foolish humans had stolen his work, modified it for their own nefarious means and, once caught, blamed him for it! For that he was stripped of his rank, all his properties seized for 'inspection' (which, by the way, was never returned), and his pride wounded. He had little contempt for humans when he working as a scientist, but with that event, he was a bitter, jaded beast man.

He sighed; no matter how painful it was, it did no good to stay in the past.

"Daddy?" he heard a set of voices call and small hands tugging on his lab coat. He turned around to see his youngest, a set of twin girls, named Mora and Maro. Both wore the same red dress, the same blonde hair, and his lion features. The only thing that could tell them apart was their eye color; Mora had ebony black eyes whereas Maro had pearl white eyes. They were one of the reasons why Percival didn't succumb to madness after being cast out of his job.

"What is it?" Percival asked, crouching down so that his face was just at their level.

"When is Onee-chan coming home?" they both asked at the same time. "She promised to play with us later."

"Your onee-chan is doing something important now," Percival said gently, smiling as he patted their heads. "I know its hard, but be patient, okay?"

"Okay," the twins said, their shoulders drooping.

"I'll play with you guys," said another voice. This one belonged to a boy around ten years old, who had dark skin, horns coming out of his forehead and an arcane marking in the center. He had long red hair that reached his shoulders, black eyes, and three markings on his cheeks. As for clothing, he wore a dark red Chinese shirt, black baggy pants and wooden clogs that made him seem taller than he really was.

"Yay!" the twin crieds, running to the boy. The boy smiled, scooping them both in his arms and walked off, not before receiving an approving nod from Percival himself. The boy's name was Jio; he was an orphan that he picked up off the streets after seeing him getting beaten up by extortionists.

There was a loud bang from downstairs, and a cry of "DAMMIT!", followed by a strong smell of smoke. The trapdoor that led to the basement burst open, letting more of the smoke out, and two more children, a boy and a girl. They were both covered in soot as they helped each other crawl out of the danger zone. The boy was the older one, with long spiky blue hair that reached his shoulders that was tied up, wolf ears, whisker marks on his face and a bushy wolf tail sticking out from his bottom. He wore a set of goggles around his green eyes, a white (now currently soot black) lab coat over muscle shirt and baggy pants. The girl, by contrast, had red hair that hung freely over her back, the same wolf characteristics as the boy, the same lab coat over her blouse and skirt and a pair of glasses over her yellow eyes.

Percival sighed. These two, Asuka and her brother Rethom, were another set of orphans from a blood relative. When he found out that his sister had contracted an illness and died, Percival took it on himself to take the kids in.

What can we say? He has a big heart, (though his wallet was another matter). All in all, he was taking care of seven children, most of them orphans.

However, his deep seated hatred for the Ostian government made them him want to train them, train them in to be strong enough to see the behind the banners of peace that the new Ostian government so proclaimed. The very fact that he was against the execution of Arika, the so-called "Queen of Calamity", had led to his eventual dismissal, forcing him to work as a mercenary (and sometimes as a gladiator) to make sure his family had food on the table.

While the two wolf-twins started to bicker over who did what wrong, he waited for one of his charges to come back with the payment that would go toward this week's groceries.

"DAD!" he heard a familiar voice yell. Right on schedule.

Minna was his eldest daughter, and perhaps the best out of the lot. She had skill with every kind of blade, whether it be from a giant claymore to a small throwing knife. Other than him, she was the best at the job, as in the only skilled enough to work alone and not run into any problems.

However, he expected her to come running at him with a money bag in her hands…not a human on her back.

* * *

Percival nodded as his daughter finished telling what happened during the hunt. He wanted to yell at her for losing track of what she had to do (he really did), but he could find no fault in why she did what she did (even though it would cost them). The girl in question was put in the med-bay, where she was put in stasis.

"So what are we going to do with her?" Minna asked her father.

"…hang on," Percival said, getting up. He returned with a holo-screen of the bounty roster, which updated itself every four hours, and checked the latest new bounties that was assigned for the week. In the end, he found this girl's face and name under the high bounty list. "I knew I saw this girl's face before," he muttered.

"What?" his daughter asked. The beast man said nothing, but showed her the slide. "NO WAY! THIS LITTLE THING WORTH 10 MILLION DRACHMA!?"

"Offered by the Megalomesembrian government no less," Percival said, grunting disapproval. Then, out of a moment of pure 'genius' (at least), to him, he came up with an idea.

Minna noticed her father's glint in his eyes, and she feared for the worst.

"How would you feel about getting another sibling?" the father asked.

Silence…

Then almost automatically, Mora, Maro, Jio, Asuka and Renthom appeared in the room, and together with Minna, shouted, "WHAT!?"

Unperturbed, Percival looked at them all and said, "What? I was only asking you know. After all, if, and I mean _if, _this girl wakes up, the head trauma will have most likely have caused some form of amnesia. She won't know who she is, and where she came from. So what I was proposing was that we take her in until she gets her memories back, or, if she fails that, becomes part of the family. What do you guys say?"

In the end, they all agreed with their father's reasoning, and let Yue stay with them. It was a week before she woke up, and as Percival had predicted, she knew nothing of who she was, and had no real memento of her past life other than a dead pactio card and a white wing shaped badge that said 'Ala Alba'.

From that point, the beast man patriarch took it upon himself to teach her how to fight. No one, not even himself, could explain why, but he just did. Just looking at the girl's impassive face just made everyone want to see her smile just once, regardless of the circumstance. After a month of grueling training, she was in the clear to go out with Minna to help with bounties, eventually being making a name for herself as the "Bullet Hell Devil", known for her gun prowess.

Now, you may all be wondering, just how can a wanted criminal with a 30 million drachma bounty on her head just sign up to be a bounty herself, right? To answer that question, Percival had altered her appearance, changing her once purple hair into a deep green color (after a vote of course) and altering her DNA pattern to match his own (thus giving her cat ears in the process and a tail in the process). So even if she did remember who she was, she couldn't go back to her old life.

Little did she know that all of that would come crashing down on her head in a months' time.

* * *

"So who are we gunning for today?" Yue asked, not looking up from her book.

"Ah, about that," Percival said, looking a little sheepish. "Um, y'see, due to the festival, we really don't have any good targets. Security is really lax, and therefore bounty hunters aren't really hired now."

"So what now?" Minna asked. "How are we gonna make money now?"

"There's a tournament held in Ostia," the beast-man said. "I was gonna propose that the three of us enter as gladiators. We really don't have to hit the number one spot, but if we can win a few fights, we'll still get some money out of it."

"But aren't these fights normally two on two?" Minna asked. "How are you going to enter?"

"Don't worry about it," the patriarch said. "I just called in a few favors so I'm set."

"If you say so," Yue said, closing her book shut with one hand. Twirling one gun in her hand, she threw it up and balanced the end of the barrel with her finger and said, "Let's do this."

* * *

_To all of those who have stayed with me since this story started, and have actually stayed with me through my very long hiatus, I thank you. _

_Yeah, college life is fun and all, and its really eaten up all my time to write. But yeah, well, I hope you enjoy!_

_Please review!_


	10. Chapter 9: Asuna's Depression

Chapter 9

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!" Kotaro yelled.

Ryu, in his irritation, smacked his younger sibling over the head while cleaning out his ear with the other. "You heard me Kotaro. I want you and the girl to train together."

Negi, to her credit, took it all in stride, but was too a bit perplexed why the head of the Inugami clan would want her to train with someone who hated her. Chisame was to somewhere else in the clan grounds, so Chachamaru was with her.

"But why!" Kotaro whined. "I already told you; I hate her! I want nothing to do with her!"

"And I don't give a damn," Ryu said, his voice leaving no room for argument. "You two are gonna train with each other, that's that. Besides, I saw a little bit of your fight, and from what I saw, her mind knew one thing, while her body something else."

"So you mean to say that she was fighting on muscle memory alone?" Chachamaru asked.

"That is what it looked like," Ryu agreed, shrugging. "So, I'll see you two outside the encampment!" With that said, he disappeared from the tent.

Kotaro screamed in frustration, pulling at his hair. "WHY THE HELL IS THIS HAPPENEING TO ME!"

"Kotaro, calm down," the gynoid said, getting up.

"SHUT UP!" Kotaro roared. "THIS WAS SUPPOSE TO BE A SIMPLE TRIP TO FIND OUT SOME INFO ON NEGI'S DAD! NOW THE WHOLE GROUP IS SEPARATED, NEGI'S DEAD, AND NOW I'M FORCED TO TRAIN WITH A TRAITOROUS BITCH! NOW TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

Negi, having enough of being called a 'bitch' by the dog boy, got up and did the first thing that came to her mind: with all the strength she could muster, she slapped him.

"Enough is enough Kotaro!" Negi yelled. "You think you're having a hard time! Think about me! How the hell am I suppose to explain this to Asuna-san and the others! How am I supposed to even go back to my normal life now that this happened?"

"Oh don't go back to this Tsukiyomi!" Kotaro said, getting up, not even noting the sore cheek. "I've had enough of this 'I can't get back to normal' crap! You are NOT NEGI! YOU NEVER WERE NEGI! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR DAMN SKULL!"

Negi's response to that was to punch the dog boy again, this time hard enough that it sent him out of the tent. Before Chachamaru could even react, she leapt after him, another fist primed.

Just as her fist was about to connect, Kotaro's fist launched out first and caught the girl in the stomach. As Negi coughed from all the air being forced out of her stomach, Kotaro followed up with a kick to the face, sending the girl into another tent, nearly destroying it.

"And that's another reason why you're not Negi!" Kotaro said, spitting out blood as he made his way to her. "He was never the one to strike first, regardless of any circumstance!"

"There's a limit to what a person can take Kotaro!" Negi shouted, getting up, nursing her stomach. "How would you like it if this happened to you and you were called a 'bitch' 24/7!" As she finished, she lunged forward, upper-cutting Kotaro in the face and following up with scissor kick to the privates.

"YOU BITCH!" Kotaro shrieked, his voice going a bit higher after being kicked in the family jewels. "DIE!" His hands turned to claws as he entered his Inugami form, becoming more beast like in the process.

"BRING IT ON!" Negi yelled, the obsidian katana appearing in her hands. Twirling them once, she her legs locked into a position before she leapt forward.

Just as the two were about to collide, a metal fist rammed into both of their skulls, knocking them both out cold. Chachamaru sighed as she gently picked up Negi, carrying her bridal style, while lifting Kotaro into a fireman's carry.

At least, the other members of the Ala Alba were doing well…right?

Over the hills and far away from our main protagonist's position, a red headed girl with mismatched green and blue eyes let out a battle cry as her fist smashed into another bounty hunters skull, smirking as she heard the satisfying sound of bones being cracked and dislocated. The said bounty hunter went flying into a wall, where he left an imprint of himself.

The red head snorted as she walked away, pulling up her hood to cover her face.

After all, the face of Asuna Kagurazaka was infamous, especially to the bounty hunting crowd.

For a reward of about 50 million Drachma, many ordinary citizens left her alone, yet the money hungry morons with inflated egos were coming at her like wolves stalking their prey. That last batch alone had at least 20 members, some decent, but most just plain crap.

Her eyes, long since dry of tears since the incident, were hardened against the world, unconsciously sending out waves of killing intent that scared away all that were near her. All she had on her were the clothes on her back and the dead pactio card between her and Negi.

Negi. Her partner.

He died right before her very eyes.

And she had done nothing to stop it.

The red head picked up the pace, almost as if trying to run away from those hated memories. Tears threatened to form under her eyes with each step, as self-loathing reared its ugly head, ready to consume her very soul.

Coming to a stop by the edge of the floating island, she stood there. She gazed over the lazily moving clouds, their white mass slowly moving, as if taunting her. Blame her imagination, but she saw images of Negi's face, smiling at her, followed by the other various expressions that she had seen.

Sadness and tears.

Happiness and joy.

Anger and determination.

Each and everyone looked at her.

Unable to think straight, the red head slowly stepped got on top of the railing. As she stood there, she closed her eyes, and willed herself forward. Her feet left the ground, and she could feel the wind pushing against her face. However…

"ASUNA-SAN! DON'T!"

…she felt a hand grab her foot. When she looked up, she saw Anya's small face, the small girl struggling to keep the older one from falling to her death.

"YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" Anya yelled, huffing as she tried to hold the girl up. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, JUMPING OFF LIKE THIS! WE'RE TOO HIGH!"

"…let me go Anya," Asuna muttered, not moving.

"WHAT!" Anya yelled, nearly dropping the girl in surprise.

"I said TO DROP ME ANYA! JUST LET ME GO!" Asuna roared, using her other leg to kick at the younger mage.

"NO! I REFUSE!" the other said, wincing at the kicks that hit her arm. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!"

"NEGI DIED BECAUSE OF ME DAMMIT!" Asuna yelled, tears pouring down her face as she kicked harder. "I'M WORTHLESS AS A PARTNER! I CAN'T PROTECT ANYONE!"

Anya just held on, despite the fact her tiny arms were nearing their breaking point. Unable to take any more, she set her arms ablaze, nearly burning Asuna's leg.

"KUSO BAKA!" Anya screamed, using the extra magic to pull the red head up and throw her against the wall. As Asuna looked up in small shock, Anya continued, "DO YOU THINK NEGI WOULD WANT TO SEE YOU THIS WAY! TO SEE YOU AS A SELF-LOATHING WRETCH BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T PROTECT HIM! NO! HE'D WANT YOU TO MOVE ON, FIND EVERYONE ELSE AND GET THEM HOME! HE'D WANT YOU TO BE STRONG WHERE HE COULDN'T!"

"Anya," the red head said, her face downcast, but it was clear that tears were forming in her eyes. Without warning, she pulled the younger girl into an embrace, and said, "Thank you."

Anya was a little surprised by the sudden hug, but hugged the girl back, a small smile on her face. As she pulled away, she her smile grew and said, "Besides, I really don't believe that he's dead. If I know him and his stupid dedication, he probably made a deal with the devil to come back."

Back with Kotaro and Negi…

The days after the fight between Kotaro and Negi, Kotaro had, more or less, become a little more accepting of Negi's current form. However, he really couldn't bring himself to call her 'Negi', and a few days after, had decided to dub her as 'Arika'.

Why?

No one really knew, but it came to a general consensus that that would be her name, and to avoid suspicion, changed her last name to Wintergale.

So Negi Springfield had now become Arika Wintergale.

That name would go down in history in Mundus Magicus…

* * *

_Yeah...another filler chapter. Don't worry, we'll get to the action soon enough. I promise! It'll be epic! _


	11. Chapter 10: Finally getting a move on!

Chapter 10

"And this is where we part ways," Ryo said, as he stood in front of a device that looked like a motorcycle but had a mast tied to back half. After a month of staying and training with Kotaro's extended family, the members of Ala Alba had decided to take their leave and go to search for their classmates.

"Still, I thank you for everything that you have done for us," Arika said, bowing low.

Ryo looked a little unnerved at the gesture, feeling the heated glares from Kotaro, Chisame and Chachamaru.

(*Flashback*)

"Eh?" Arika said unintelligible, not believing what she had heard.

"You heard me," Ryo said, his eyes narrowing.

"But why do I have to do _that_ of all things!" Arika said, blushing wildly.

"Just put it on, or you won't like what I'll do," Ryo said, walking up to her.

"NO!" Arika screamed, pushing against the cloth of the tent.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

The two were blinded by a bright light when the tent flaps were suddenly opened by one irate Chisame, whose skin could be compared to that of a very ripe tomato, followed by Chachamaru, whose arms had turned into swords, and Kotaro, who was just blushing at the implications at what they had just heard.

Ryo raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, several members of the Inugami clan burst from the sides of the tent and restrained all of them by having a knife to their throats.

"Nii-san! What the hell's going on!" Kotaro yelled.

"I smelled a murderer in our compound," the Inugami clan head snarled, pointing at Arika. "She smells like the blood of many innocents who were slain in cold blood, and as head of the family, I cannot allow such a person to live."

"Then what were trying to get her to do!" Chisame cried out.

"I was trying to get her to confess," Ryo said, shrugging. "But seeing as she refused, I had to resort with force."

"Then why are we being restrained as well?" Chachamaru asked calmly.

"You are her associates," Ryo said, his eyes narrowing. "Therefore, you are all guilty in my eyes until you are proven innocent. YES KOTARO THAT INCLUDES YOU AS WELL! Guards! Take them to the interrogation room! Tell Selena that she can use _that_ device on all of them." The masked guards nodded and proceeded to pull the four members of Ala Alba out of the tent, and into an black tent with the kanji symbol for "Interrogation" on its flag.

One by one, with the exception of Chachamaru (who was a robot and pretty much just gave them a copy of her memory), were subject to an oddly shaped tiara that securely went over their heads and tightened at the cranium. From there, electric shocks were applied over and over again, in an attempt to coax out memories from the subjects.

It was here that Chisame learned something about herself that she didn't even believe was real. As it turns out, she was actually a quarter kitsune! (Her mother was human while her father was half kitsune. Her mother had died during childbirth.) When the computer savvy girl heard that, she literally tried to yank the tiara off, only to be held down by guards as the forced trip down memory lane continued. When she was a child, she was constantly teased for her mixed heritage, in other words, for being a 'freak'. Unable to take it anymore, she actually cut them off, and upon being discovered by her parents for what she had did to herself, she was banished from the family. Sent to live with a relative from her mother's side, from there she was sent to Mahora, and there she developed the 'Chiu' persona, blending her natural acting skills, her penchant for quick costume changing, and computer skills.

Needless to say, Chisame was _pissed_ when everyone had found out her secret, and then had tried to attack the interrogator…only to be immediately sedated via a needle to the neck. Feeling quite vengeful, Selena ordered the orange head to be brought to surgery, where she would personally "restore" the quarter kitsune to what she should truly be.

Then…came Arika's turn.

At first, she went through with it, feeling that she had nothing to hide. It was true in most ways, but…

During the procedure, Selena and her co-workers had found _four_ sets of memories. Two of them were female, and the other two were male. The two had matched the personalities of one Fate Averuncus and Negi Springfield, and one of the female memories had matched who the one described to be Tsukiyomi, but the fourth could not be identified, even by the most advanced techniques they used. However, due to the fact that the machine was not equipped to handle so much information flowing into it at once, it overloaded. The resulting explosion and back up scan led to the blending of all four sets, which completely destroyed her original personality.

Any remnants of Negi Springfield were all gone…there was only Arika Wintergale left.

To make matters…somewhat interesting (?) and a bit disturbing (?), the resulting interrogation had revealed that Arika believed herself to be, not the teacher that Negi was, but a _student_ of class 3-A! Her story was that she had met all of them just before the final exams, and was placed in that particular class at her own request. She could list every single member of the class, even recalling Negi Springfield to be the teacher. When Chachamaru had said that she did not recognize her, Arika had smiled and said that she didn't really think she'd be remembered, due to the timing of her transfer. When questioned why she was here, she replied that she wanted to go home to Ostia for summer break, returning to Mahora before the break ended.

It was at this point Chachamaru, for the first time in her existence, felt fear. She felt fear for whoever had to explain this to the Class Rep, to Negi's sister Nekane…and to Asuna.

(*Present*)

(*With Ryo*)

Ryo continued to ride far across the desert. He knew what he did was wrong...but he had to do it...for the family.

Coming to a stop, he pulled off his helmet and pulled out a circular device from his coat. Clicking the button on the side, an image of an imposing figure in black robes appeared.

"Well?" the figure asked.

"It's been done," Ryo said, staring at the apparition.

"Good. As promised, your family and your clan will be spared," the figure said, nodding.

"If you don't mind me being so bold," Ryo said, just as the feed was about to get cut short. "Why did you have me do it?"

"It was necessary for my plans," the mysterious robed man said, before the feed was cut.

(*With Our Protagonists*)

"It was nice of your brother to drop us off here at Hecates," Arika said, stretching her shoulders. She was wearing a rather plain outfit; set of black biker shorts under a short plaid skirt, a white blouse that hugged her body, a set of white cloth arm guards, a large white hat that had a snowflake design, and black shoes. Pulling down the white scarf that covered her mouth, she yawned, pushing up her small square frame glasses.

"Yeah," Kotaro said, glaring at his brother's retreating back. He was wearing the same outfit that he was wearing when he first found them in the forest, much to his distaste.

"Shouldn't our concern be looking for our classmates?" asked Chisame, who was wiping away the dirt and grime from her large round glasses. Her orange fox ears twitched in annoyance at the sound of the bike, and she, like Arika, stretched her arms, and her legs and tail. She was wearing a green tank top under a tan shawl, and a long tan skirt that covered her sandaled feet.

"I agree," Chachamaru said, nodding. Her antennae were already opened up, searching for Ala Alba badge signals. She was wearing her black dress, the same one that she had worn when she originally arrived here.

"Well, there's no time like the present, so lets go!" Arika said, leading them into the city. They walked around, questioning the locals of the whereabouts of their missing friends, but with little to no luck.

Around midday, they decided to take a break, and sat in the shade of a balcony from a nearby restaurant.

"Any luck, Chacha-chan?" Arika asked, looking mildly concerned as she took a sip of her drink.

"Unfortunately none," the gynoid said, looking very disappointed with herself. She was still a little unnerved at the fact that she had received that name from Arika, as it was not even a day before the memory incident.

"In all honestly, I'm not that surprised," Chisame said, before popping a bit of steak in her mouth. After swallowing, she continued, "After all, we were with the Inugami's for a while. Whoever was here probably moved on." She scowled as she mentioned Kotaro's family, still resenting what they did to her.

"…in other news, that has been a development in the case regarding the vicious attacks of the eight gate ports," a screen broadcasting the news said, interrupting the groups conversation. "We have received information that the attacks were indeed acts of terrorism, caused by a group calling themselves the 'Ala Alba', or White Wings. We have received the names and faces of the individuals who took part in the attack, and here is a copy of the released video that officials have allowed us to broadcast. But please be warned, some images are graphic."

The screen flashed, and it showed Negi Springfield, leading the pactio'd members of Ala Alba in a charge against a gate port. Negi cast a huge 'Jupiter's Storm of Thunder Spell', destroying the wall, and allowing the others to get in. Asuna was screaming like a primal beast, cutting down guard magi left and right with her huge broadsword, followed by close Setsuna, who was sniping enemies afar with her artifact while at the same time destroying her enemies. The library trio stood together, with Nodoka having her mind reading diary split to five and she stood behind one of Haruna's giant soldier creations as she spoke what was on the minds of all the guards. Yue was even smirking as she cast a huge fireball, which destroyed the administrative areas. Chisame was closely guarded by Negi as she hacked the security console to the actual gate itself, and when she was struck by a lance, the teacher retaliated by chopping the man's head so hard that he nearly decapitated him. The computer savvy girl was healed by Konoka, and afterwards the barrier was down. With a primal yell, Negi reared his fist and smashed it against the gate stone, destroying it in a one blow. With a satisfied smirk, he gave an order to the others, and they all teleported, presumably by a transportation gate.

The screen crackled again, and the names and faces of the Ala Alba appeared, though not all. All that showed were Negi Springfield, Yue Ayase, Nodoka Miyazaki, Asuna Kagurazaka, Konoka Konoe, Setsuna Sakurazaki, Haruna Saotome, and Chisame Hasegawa. The rewards for their heads were in the millions!

"Wow," Arika breathed, "Did Negi-kun and the others really do that?"

"That video's full of bullcrap!" Kotaro hissed. "It has to be fake! For one, chibi-Yue ain't that sadistic (nor powerful really), and Nodoka would faint at the first sight of blood! It has to be the remnants of Fate's gang!"

"How the hell are we suppose to find the others now that there's a bounty on their heads!" Chisame said, nervously looking from side to side.

"In some cases, this may actually be fortuitous for us," Chachamaru said, looking at the list. At receiving rather incredulous looks, she continued, "While I agree with Kotaro-san that this may be the work of Averruncus' remnants, they did not take into account all of the members of Ala Alba. They have forgotten Kaede-san, Ku-san, Anya-san, Asakura-san, Kotaro-san, and myself. We also have to keep in mind the four that had come in with us, and be thankful that they are not on the wanted list."

After looking a bit to the west, she continued, "In fact…I am picking up a badge response!" Closing her eyes, she continued, "It is about 75 meters from here, in other words, a few blocks over."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Arika said, dropping money on the table and putting her cap on. "Lets go!"

After a few minutes, they came across the badge…

…but why was it on a dead corpse?

"This is not good," Chisame said.

* * *

_Dun dun dun dun!_

_You must probably hate me now...XP_

_Oh well! Look out for the next update!_


	12. Chapter 11: An unexpected revelation!

Chapter 12

"This is the worst case scenario, ever!" Chisame groaned, holding the Ala Alba badge in her palm. Her ears twitched as she glared at it, almost demanding it to tell her who its owner was with her mind alone. Sadly, no dice.

"While I agree this is bad, we must also take into account the possibility that that the badge was merely dropped there on accident," Chachamaru said.

"Yeah, but what are the chances?" Kotaro asked.

"Very slim," Chachamaru admitted.

"Regardless," Arika said, holding a list of the bounties for the Pactio members of the Ala Alba. "We still have to find them. From what I remember from the Gate Port incident, there were at least fifteen of you, Negi included, and four extra stowaways, right?"

"That is correct," Chachamaru said, nodding. "Also, we were all sent away in random directions when we were hit with a random displacement spell."

"This could be anybody's pin!" Chisame groaned. "We've been with Kotaro's family for a month!"

"Hold on," Chachamaru said, taking the pin from the quarter Kitsune and scanning it with her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Arika asked, confused.

"I'm scanning the fingerprint that was left on the badge," the gynoid replied, her eyes closing as she cross referenced with the members. "I've got it! Its Asakura-san's!"

"And what of the body here?" Chisame asked, looking at it with distaste.

A quick scan later revealed that everyone's worst fears were just a falsehood.

But the question still remained…what do they do now?

(*Elsewhere*)

"Tch," a black robed mage said, looking over a cauldron he had set to a boil. "Your death was not my will." With that, he took out a spellbook, laid it on a specific page, and began to chant, "**_Nunquam vivo , Nunquam morior , EGO Unus spin Ligamen of Vita! Reverto ut vita iterum! AGO Iterum_**_!_" (Translation: Never to live, Never to die, I Alone spin the Strings of Life! Return to life once more! REINCARNATION!)

A magic circle appeared, swallowing the two cauldrons that were in front of him. An image of a full moon appeared on them, and then slowly went through the phases as the magic flowed. Clenching his hands into fists, the mana flared and two figures burst from the cauldron, shattering it in the process. The two were naked, having just been reborn again, and were confused at their surroundings.

"Tsukiyomi," the robed figured said, throwing them towels and spare clothing. "Do not make me do this again."

"Understood," Tsukiyomi said, keeping her head bowed, deeply grateful for another chance at life.

"As for you," the mysterious mage said, turning to the boy that had come out, "You, who will bear the weight of your predecessors of the Fate Averruncus name, I name you 'Diatesseron'. Do not fail me, as your late predecessor had. Do you understand?"

"I understand…father," the newly named Fate Averruncus said, keeping his head down.

(*And now back to the story*)

At a nondescript tavern, the wooden rickety doors opened up to reveal our four protagonists, three of them looking greatly different. Arika was the only one who was the same, but the same could not be said for her three companions.

Kotaro had changed into an older form of himself, wearing the same outfit that he wore during the Mahora Festival, and Chachamaru and Chisame had become younger, Chachamaru through a data transfer from her teenage body to her child one, and Chisame through Kitsune Illusion arts that she had unknowingly learned from her time with the Inugami family.

The reason why?

As soon as they had decided to go around for information, the page that Arika had updated, now including every single member of the Ala Alba, (Anya included). Thankfully, the four stowaways were not on the list.

Regardless of who was on it or not, the three had decided that it was safer for them to appear differently, or in this case, older for Kotaro and younger for the gynoid and quarter Kitsune.

Taking a seat at the bar, Arika removed her hat and ordered, "I'll have Ambasa if you have it," earning her snickers and incredulous stares.

"Amazake for me," Kotaro said, smirking.

"And get a bottle of Oronamin for these two," Arika said, pulling out a coin purse and paying the necessary coin for the drinks. The mention of the name caused a few men in the background to laugh, while a few women merely rolled their eyes at the antics of the other gender.

As the drinks came out, Arika casually pulled out a black book, and flipped it to a specific page. "Pardon me," she said, showing the barman the page. "Have you seen any of the people here?"

Gently taking the book from the girl, the barman took a careful look at all of them before handing them back, saying, "Personally, if I did, I would've already turned them in. But unfortunately, I haven't. Why? You a bounty hunter or something?"

"Not necessarily," Arika said, sighing as she closed the book and put it away. Just as she was about to ask another question, she received a tap on the shoulder. Turning around, she nearly screamed at the sight of a large and brutish man in her face.

"Oi, Jo-chan, you're in my seat," the man said. Tightening his grip on her shoulder, "I'm gonna have to ask ya to move."

"What!" Arika nearly yelled. "Why! This wasn't reserved or anything!"

"Don't matter," the man said. "Now get up, or am I gonna have to force ya?"

"Try me," Arika said, her eyes narrowing.

"With ease!" the man replied, throwing his left fist at her. At the last minute, Arika broke from the man's grip and swerved to the right, narrowly dodging the punch.

"Look, I don't know exactly what your problem is, but I can't just allow you to hit me for no reason other than the fact I'm sitting in 'your' seat," Arika said, her eyes narrowing.

"Tch," the large man said, looking fairly annoyed. "Its bad enough I gotta deal with wenches back at the barracks. But now here at my favorite bar too! Now I'm pissed! **_Carmen Vetus Proeliator!_**" With that chant, his whole body shimmered with a white light.

"Whoa! Vargus has gotten a helluva lot stronger!" one the men in the bar yelled.

"It's a pity that his wrath is aimed at a girl," one of the women in the bar sighed. "I was hoping to see a good fight."

"And I ain't done yet!" Vargus yelled, extending his right arm forward. "**_Triginta Pulvis Telum_**!" About thirty spherical balls of sand started to fly around his extended fist, and he held it threateningly. "Well girly! What now!"

The people of the bar shouted their approval, eager to see a good fight. Arika just extended her hand and moved her fingers, the universal signal for, 'Bring it on.'

"FINE THEN!" Vargus yelled, as the orbs of sand circled his fast at a faster pace. Just as he was about to ram his fist in the smaller girls gut, said girl slipped under his legs at the last minute, letting his fist hit the bar. From behind him, she placed her left hand at the base of his spine, and punched hard with her right. As Vargus lost his footing, Arika followed up by flipping forward and ramming her heel in the same spot.

Just as the man hit his head on the bar, leaving quite a large dent in it, Arika's blade was at his neck.

Everyone froze. The fight took less than two minutes, and Vargus, the head trainer of the Granicus Gladiator Teams, was defeated.

"GET HER!" the majority of the men yelled, drawing all sorts of weapons. Kotaro, eager to see some action, put down his cup and smirked.

(*Five minutes later*)

Kotaro was dusting his hands off the twenty or so men that had tried to take him and Arika down. The fight was easy; all it took was one punch and an attacker was down. Talk about pathetic.

"Wow," the barkeeper said, looking amazed. "Are you two gladiators?"

"No," Arika said, eyeing the clump of men warily. "We're just travelers. We were caught up in one the Gate Port Incidents."

"I see," the barkeeper said, now a bit thoughtful. "Lemme see that book of yours again?" When Arika complied, he took it gently and poured over each picture, taking the time to look at each one individually. Finally, he laid the book back down, pointed to a picture, and said, "Now I remember. I can recall seeing this girl coming in here, begging for a glass of water. She got caught by a few bounty hunters soon after."

Arika gaped. Chisame was about to scream. Kotaro was in shock. And Chachamaru was the most composed of them all.

The barkeeper had pointed at the picture of Konoka!


	13. Chapter 12: Meeting in Granicus

Chapter 13

"So this is Granicus, huh?" Kotaro said, looking around at the large buildings as he helped the chibified Chachamaru and Chisame get off the shuttle that took them there from Hecates.

"It would appear so," Chachamaru said, her antennae open and scanning. "The area is large, and there are quite a few jammers in the way of the badge. We will have to go on foot if we are to find anyone."

"So lets split up then," Arika said, earning a look from everyone. "What? That way, we can cover more ground." When everyone nodded slowly, she continued, "Cha-chan, you and Chisame-chan take the central part of the city, but be careful. Kotaro, you take the south and the east, while I'll cover the north and the west."

"Time limit?" Chisame asked.

"How about we meet at that arena over there by nightfall?" Kotaro asked, pointing out a rather large arena in the distance. "It should be crowded by then, but lets meet near the entrance, okay?"

With a unanimous nod, they went their separate ways, hoping to find any relevant information about their friends.

(With Kotaro)

"Excuse me," the disguised Inugami said, interrupting a conversation between two young women the same age as his current persona. One of them was a humanoid cat girl while the other was of an unknown race (though judging by the horns coming out of her head and her ears, she was a Demi-Human).

"Yesh?" the cat woman slurred, none too pleased about having her conversation interrupted. The alcohol immediately quelled her anger when she saw Kotaro's face, and her face lit up that Kotaro had thought that there was something wrong with her.

"Can we help you?" the other woman asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah," Kotaro said, pulling a copy of the roster that Chachamaru had produced. Opening it to the list, he presented it to the two women before him and asked, "Have you seen anyone from this list?"

The Demi-Human gingerly took the list from him, procured a set of glasses, and proceeded to go over each and every picture individually, the cat woman glazing over the list as well over her friend's shoulder, but mainly kept her attention on Kotaro.

"Oh I remember seeing this one!" the cat woman cried after a bit. "Percy's kids brought this one in!"

"Who?" Kotaro asked?

"Percival Hearthnet," the Demi-Human said. "A Class-A bounty hunter."

Sure enough, the picture that the cat woman had pointed out was one that of Konoka, thus confirming the barman's story.

"Can you recognize anyone else?" Kotaro asked.

"This one here," the sober gir said, pointing at another picture. "I see her almost everyday at the center of town, playing some kind of instrument. She normally plays for a few hours, which nets her some drachma, and then leaves." She was pointing out the picture of one Kazumi Asakura, the resident information specialist of the Ala Alba. Handing the book back to Kotaro, she pulled off her glasses and said, "I apologize that we cannot do more."

"Nah, you've given me plenty of info!" Kotaro said, putting the book back in his jacket pocket. "Thanks!"

Just as he was about to go, an arm grabbed his shoulder, stopping him in place. Kotaro turned around slowly, fearing that he may have been found out and would have to fight his way out of this. "Yes?" he asked.

"Did you think the information was free?" the cat woman said, leaning rather close to his face. "You know, we're gonna need some compensation for that, since, y'know, you did interrupt us."

Pulling back from her, Kotaro pulled out a sack of money and held it out to the girl, saying, "Here. Is this enough?"

Snorting, the cat woman gently pushed down his arm. Wrapping her arms around Kotaro's neck, she brought her face close enough that their noses were touching and said, "Now what made you think I wanted money?"

Off to the side, Brigitte sighed, hiding her blush with her scarf and attempting to block out the noises the two were making. Of all times for her friend to get drunk and fall in love, why did it have to be now? With Kotaro Inugami no less?

These were one of the times where she wished that she could've just taken the offer to go to Ariadne instead…

(With Chachamaru and Chisame)

The quarter-Kitsune hacker and the chibified gynoid walked around the streets of Central Granicus. Thankfully, the area was relatively safe for small children, but it was also extremely busy.

Going to a stall that had sold "exotic" foods, Chachamaru went up to one of the people behind the tables and asked, "Pardon me, but have you seen anyone on this list?"

The young man from behind the stall gave a quick look at the list, nodded, and held up a finger, silently asking the two to wait a few minutes to deal with customers. After sending the last batch of customers off, he came from behind the table, gently took the list from them, and pointed out two.

"I remember seeing these two yesterday," the man said, pointing at the pictures of Natsumi Murakami and Ako Izumi. "Although," he paused, tapping Ako's picture thoughtfully, "this girl is pretty sickly. She fainted yesterday, reasons being either the heat or her illness."

"Illness?" Chisame asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well," the stall keeper said, scratching the back of his head as he tried to remember. "for one, she was always coughing. Heck, she even coughed up blood! Also, she seemed to be quite feverish, and frankly, I'm surprised that hasn't protested working if she's that sick."

"Protested what?" Chachamaru asked, confused.

"Those two are slaves," the stall keeper replied. "They probably owe a huge debt to someone, someone who's either really powerful, really rich, or both." Just as Chisame was about to ask, he put up his hands and said, "Look, I'm sure you two have a lot more questions, but that's all I know. Sorry."

At that, the two left, Chisame sighed in small aggravation and said, "Well, as helpful as that was, we still don't know much."

"I agree, but at least we know two of those without a badge are in this city," Chachamaru said.

"Yeah, but we don't know where they are," Chisame retorted.

"Ara ara," a voice said from behind them. "I knew you were a pessimist, but this is pushing it, don't ya think?"

The two turned around, Chachamaru pulling out a small handgun from her arm, only to freeze at who it was.

(With Arika)

Arika sighed as she bit into the small sandwich she had bought off a food card. So far, she had found nothing of about the missing Ala Alba members, and she was getting slightly discouraged.

"Yo," a voice said from her left. She turned around to see a cloak wearing figure, though with his hood drawn back. The man was rather large, about two times her height, and his physique spoke that of a battle hardened veteran. His eye's and his mouth smirked as they met eyes, his dark brown staring into her teal blue. "You look like somethin's troublin' you. Need help?"

Feeling a sense of danger from this man, Arika curtly replied, "No sir, there is nothing wrong." With the quickness and grace of a fugitive, she started her way into the crowds.

"Feh," the large man grunted. "You're lookin' for them Ala Alba types, aren'tcha?"

That stopped Arika in her tracks. She tensed a bit, readying herself to draw if she needed to.

"Whoa now, just calm down," the man said, holding his arms up in a placating manner.

"Who are you?" Arika asked sharply, her eyes watching the man's hands.

"I'm just a guy who wants to help a young girl in need," the man said. "Is that so wrong?"

After a few tense minutes, Arika pulled out her copy of the class roster and showed it to the man, who took it slowly. "Wow," he said, chuckling a bit. "Lotsa' cuties here!"

"Have you seen anyone on that list lately?" Arika asked, ignoring the comment.

"Keep your panties on, give me a minute," the man said, taking his time as he looked at at each picture. After another minute or so, he looked up at her and asked, "By the way, why do you have pictures of girls on you? You their stalker or somethin'?" As soon as he finished, he was hit with a blast of potent killing intent (KI) and felt the sharp metal of a blade on his neck.

"Care to repeat that?" Arika asked, her voice cold as ice.

Seemingly uncaring that he had a deadly weapon at his neck, nor that he had pissed off a fairly strong female (and said female was holding a blade to his neck), he said, "I have seen some of these faces before, and some of 'em are in the city."

"Who and where?" the girl said, keeping her sword steady.

"You forgot 'why' and 'how'," the man said with a small smile. Feeling the blade tense, he snapped the book closed and tossed it back, using the time that Arika had spent catching the book to use a shundo to get away from the sword.

"That Murakami girl and that Izumi girl are slaves to the Arena owner," the man said, smirking as he saw the look of shock on Arika's face. As for that Okochi one…well, look at the screen."

Confused, Arika did as she was told…only to gape at the sight

As she continued to stare into the screen in shock, Jack Rakan slipped away silently, his eyes narrowing and his perpetual grin leaving his face. When he was a good distance away, he pulled out a small beaten medal, clicked a button, and revealed a picture of him, Nagi, and very pregnant Arika (the Queen of Calamity Arika, not the protagonist). "To think you were still alive," he said, staring at the picture, "_nazuke-musume."_

(That Night)

Arika, being the closest, made her way to the Arena that Kotaro had pointed out, and waited there by the entrances. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long, as Chisame and Chachamaru arrived, followed by another hooded figure.

"Who are you?" Arika asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," the hooded person said.

"Enough," Chachamaru said, looking from between the two. "I have already explained the situation to Asakura-san."

Sure enough, the mystery person was Kazumi Asakura, the red headed reporter and information specialist of the Ala Alba. On her back was a long sitar case, which was strapped over a dark green shawl.

Kazumi said nothing as she stared down the new girl before her, trying to wrap her head around the information that the chibified Chachamaru had given her before. She was, for lack of a better word, slightly disturbed at what had occurred, but she couldn't help feel interested in why this new persona would decide to help them.

"Asakura-san?" a small voice from underneath her shawl spoke up. There was a bit of ruffling, and soon one small doll with the semblance of one Sayo Aisaka appeared on the left side of her head, sitting on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Sayo-chan," the reporter said, giving the doll a reassuring pat on the head. Turning to Arika, she asked, "So, you're from here?"

"That's right," Arika answered, albeit a little slowly. "Though, I'm not from Granicus exactly. My home is in Ostia."

"Is that right?" Kazumi said, watching the girl carefully. After a pause, she asked, "So why decide to help us out? I mean, sure, we're suppose to be classmates at our next semester at Mahora, but why go to such length for just that reason?"

"Do I need another reason to help?" Arika answered back.

Kazumi didn't say anything, but it was clear on her face that she was rather annoyed by being answered with another question.

"Where's Kotaro?" Chisame asked, looking around. "Its not like him to be late, especially when he picked out the place and time to meet."

"Almost as if on cue, a very messy and a very scuffed up Kotaro ran up to them, just barely stopping in time. His hair was an even bigger mess than before, and his clothing looked like was hastily thrown on as he ran here. His face was a mess of scratches and smudges of…something…and the sweat was only making him look worse.

"What happened to you?" Chisame asked, an incredulous look on her face. However, the scent coming off him soon told her everything, making the disguised girl blush with embarrassment.

"Don't ask," Kotaro said in between breaths. "Just don't ask."

"Now that we are all here," Chachamaru started, not batting Kotaro's appearance a second glace. "we can now share what information we've gathered today."

"Right," Chisame said. "We found out that Murakami and Izumi became slaves a month ago, and are working at this very Arena as waitresses at a bar. Izumi had become sick, and when they were offered medicine from the owner, they jumped at the offer, and agreed to become debt slaves to pay him back. However, the medicine doesn't even seem to be working, but because they signed the contract, they're stuck until they pay back the 1,000,000 drachma."

"Wow," Kazumi whistled. "And you found all that in a day?"

"I can confirm that," Arika said, looking thoughtful. "However, Okochi-san signed on with them as a debt slave, but instead of being a waitress, one of the trainers had apparently saw some potential in her and made her a gladiator instead." Ignoring the cries of the girls, she continued, "As hard as it is to believe, it's true. She made her debut just a week ago, and she stands at 10 wins, three loses and one draw."

"And what about you Kotaro?" Chisame asked the dog boy, whose eyes were glazed over. After a few minutes of silence, the quarter kitsune got irritated and chucked a rock at his face, hitting him clear on the forehead.

"What the hell was that for!" Kotaro cried out, holding his sore forehead.

"For spacing out on an important meeting dumbass!" Chisame yelled back.

"Uh, right, about that," Kotaro said, clearing his throat. "I was able to find some information about Konoka-nee. She was captured by a few bounty hunters, just like the barman said, but these two were apparently the children of a more famous one, Percival Hearthnet. He's one of the best in the world, and has quite the reputation."

"Were you able to find where they're staying?" Arika asked.

"Yeah," Kotaro said, suddenly blushing and looking away. "I had to compensate more for that, but I do know where it is."

"'Compensate'?" Kazumi asked, her eyes glowing with mirth (and a hint of perversion) "What kind?"

"Don't ask," Kotaro said flatly.


	14. Chapter 13: Looking for Ala Alba

_A/N: Hey everyone. I know its been a long time since I uploaded everything, but college life has taken its toll on me. I have been working on my other stories, as well as other projects. More of this will come along the way. _

_Thank you for your patience. _

* * *

Chapter 13

"Well this was a surprisingly easy job," Minna said to her adopted sister. "I was expecting more a fight really."

"Hn," Yue said, not looking up from her book.

"I mean, I heard the target had incredibly powerful bodyguards from the Mundus Vetus," the older girl continued, trying to get some response out of the bookworm. "Aren't bodyguards from that world really loyal or something?"

"Quite," Yue replied, flipping a page.

"Why do you suppose they fled?" Minna continued, getting a little annoyed. "I mean, they were AA-rank, weren't they?"

"I don't know," Yue said, flipping another page.

Just as the older girl was about to explode, their captured bounty cried out, "Yue-chan! Why won't you talk to me anymore? We're friends, aren't we?"

That…seemed to make Yue mad (if the tic mark on her forehead was any indication). With a snap of her book, she walked out, tossing it on the bed. When Minna saw the title, she blanched.

The title of the book was, "How to Torture your Bounty for Information 301".

In the other room, Konoka struggled against the binding chains that held her arms and legs apart, complete with a collar around her neck. The Konoe heiress was looking a little worse for wear; her clothes (consisting of a white T-shirt under short summer dress) were dirty and slightly torn. Her once unblemished face was full of cuts on her cheeks, one leaving a scar on her right.

"Yue-chan!" she cried out, tears falling from her eyes as she hung her head down. "Why won't you at least talk to me?"

When she first saw her fellow library club member, she was surprised and happy to see her alive and well. Sure, her hair color was a little different and she was sporting a set of cat ears and a tail, but that could've been part of a disguise right?

Well…not exactly.

As she tried to hug the girl from behind, another girl, older than her, had grabbed her wrist and pinned her down. Struggling underneath the older girl's weight, she froze when she heard a gun releasing the safety. Looking up, she saw Yue, pointing an ornate pistol at her, saying she was under arrest for terrorism.

And she was stuck in this place ever since, depraved of food and sleep.

The sound of the creaking door snapped her from her reverie. Looking up, she saw the girl she thought of as a friend in front of her, looking quite mad.

"Yue-chan," Konoka said. "Why?"

(A/N: This is an attempt at writing a torture scene. I tried to make it believable without sounding like a sadistic maniac…though it still sounds bad…)

Instead of responding, the smaller girl whipped out a knife and stabbed her in the abdomen, positioning the knife just to avoid damaging the internal organs. "Now tell me where the rest of them are!" Yue demanded, a fierce look on her face

At first Konoka said nothing, gasping at the sudden spike of pain that shot through her. She bit down a scream, and said, "I don't know!"

"Liar!" Yue snarled, pulling the blade out and stabbing another area of her abdomen, causing her bounty to scream in pain. "You were the one who cast the Teleportation spell! Now talk!"

"WE DIDN'T DO THAT TO THE GATEPORTS! WE'RE INNOCENT!" the Konoe heiress cried out, tears pouring of her eyes.

"So you think the footage of your beloved Ala Alba group is a fake? The one retrieved from the memories the only two survivors, mere children at that, are fake?" Yue snapped, twisting the blade. Ignoring the screams of pain, Yue whipped out her pistols and shot flaming bullets at her hands and feet. The bullets shot through the flesh and bone, instantly cauterizing the wounds they caused. "Now talk or else the next one will go right through your head."

The pain, both physical and emotional, was too overbearing for the Konoe heiress. For her to see Negi-kun fall to a stone spear to the chest, have everyone separated, being alone, and now seeing one of her best friends hurting her, became too much.

She slumped over, staring at her blood and tears that mixed into a puddle below her feet, and said softly, "I don't know."

"Is that your final answer Konoe?" Yue said, her eyes hardening.

"Yes," she said in a sedate tone.

"Fine with me then," Yue said, squeezing the trigger.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Arika asked, looking around. "I don't see anything remotely close to a Bounty Hunter's Den."

"Its gotta be a hidden one," Kotaro said, looking around. "Besides, do you honestly think a Bounty Hunter's Den will be out in the open?"

"If you say so," Arika said, shrugging.

As they spoke, they passed a sign that had a huge neon sign that said, "BOUNTY HUNTERS DEN".

The two continued down the street, keeping a lookout for anything that looked recently remotely like an inn. Chachamaru could've helped in this manner, seeing as she could detect the badges, but being in her younger body restricted her to only a single shot rocket punch. To make matters even more difficult, Kotaro wasn't even all that focused, constantly looking around as if he was waiting to be attacked or something.

"Something wrong?" Arika asked.

"Oh! No! I'm good!" Kotaro said, waving his hand frantically. "I'm fine, really!" The swordswoman stared at him, but just shrugged it off.

After walking around a few more blocks, Arika stopped and turned to Kotaro and glared at him. "We're lost, aren't we?"

"We're not lost!" Kotaro protested, although he himself was looking rather annoyed. "It's-gah!" Just as he was about to continue, a hooded figure had jumped him from behind. As the two fell to the floor, the hood receded, revealing a lightly tanned cat girl, nuzzling into his back.

"Kojiro-kun!" the girl squealed happily. "Its been so long!"

"Huh?" Arika said mindlessly.

"Its only been a couple of hours Anda-san," Kotaro (or in this case, Kojiro), groaned, pushing himself up. As he stood up, the smaller girl grabbed a handful of his shirt, and yanked him close to her with a surprising amount of strength.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" she said, looking up at him. "Just call me Tsubaki, or at the very least Tsubaki-chan!"

"Ah, excuse me," Arika started, holding up a hand.

"Who are you?"the Tsubaki asked, whipping her attention to the other girl.

"I'm just a friend," the swordswoman said quickly, waving her hand in front of her. "Anyways, how do you know Kojiro here?"

Tsubaki stared at her for a bit, trying to determine if she was a rival or not. After a few tense seconds, she smiled in a disturbingly familiar way to that of a certain member of the Ala Alba, rubbed her cheek into Kojiro's chest and said, "It's a little embarrassing to admit…"

"T-T-Tsubaki!" Kojiro yelled, turning red.

"Kojiro-kun," Tsubaki started, her own blush growing. "He..um…well…"

"Yes?" Arika asked, sweatdropping.

"Kojiro-kun…made me a woman!" the cat girl yelled out, flushing and pushing her face into Kojiro's chest. If possible, Kojiro would've committed seppuku right then and there.

"I…see," Arika said, a small blush gracing her own face. '_So is this what he meant by extra compensation_?' she wondered. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she continued, "Anyways, we were looking for a kind of Inn."

"An Inn?" Tsubaki asked, confused. "What kind?"

"Well, one that's good too hunters really," Arika replied.

"Oh, you mean one for bounties, right?" Tsubaki asked. "You just passed one!"

Confused, both Arika and Kojiro turned around, and saw the neon sign that said, "BOUNTY HUNTERS DEN". Both of them sweatdropped.

"And you said one wouldn't be out in the open," Arika said, glaring at the dog boy.


End file.
